surgery went amazingly, perfectly, remarkably well. dr. zomorodi came out to give us the good news just about 2.5 hours after the surgery initially began. we were elated to hear that everything went according to plan and that it was already confirmed that will’s spinal fluid was once again freely flowing. they let us know that will was moved to the icu and shuffled us from the 3rd floor waiting area to the 4th floor waiting area. we’d had an outback steakhouse style pager throughout the entire process that alerted us when he was ready for visiting pre-op, when he was given his second round of anesthesia, when the surgery began, when the sutures were being put in, and when the surgery was over. we carried this little pager with us up to the 4th floor and waited for some buzzing action to go see our surgery survivor. after about an hour of us being impatient i checked with the nurse who told me will was ready for two visitors. lori and i gathered up all of our worldly possessions (including and not limited to a rather large bag that weighed about 400 pounds) and made our way back to the icu.
we found will laying peacefully in the bed in the icu, looking as great as usual and were surprised how wonderful he appeared. he seemed to be dealing well with the medications, morphine pain pump, and other drugs the attending nurses were supplying him with. he rested well and immediately fell in love with some lime sherbet. the nurse made sure he had an endless supply and i stayed with him until they kicked me out for the night.
the following morning i showed back up at 8:30am as soon as visiting hours began and found will sitting straight up in the bed munching on some breakfast. i thought he was doing pretty good to be eating scrambled eggs, but it was not until about 30 minutes later that i found out he had already scarfed down some bacon and home fries! that boy was hoongry! he did well throughout the morning and they got him up and walking a lap around the icu before they determined he was ready to move to a regular room around 1pm. they asked if he would like to be driven in his bed, or walk over to the new room and he decided he was good enough to walk, so off they went. lori and i tagged along behind him lugging our 400lb bag and everything else we’d seemed to accumulate over the past 24 hours.
we arrived to will’s new room – 4130 on the same floor as the icu, just around a different wing. we got will settled in and tried to get him comfortable. he seemed to be doing okay for a while, but then his morphene began to wear off and the pain began to escalate. a group of 1st year med students dropped by to ask some questions and learn about patient-doctor relationships, and we allowed them to sit and chat for about half an hour. after this visit will really felt his condition was declining even further and we then had to try and seek some additional attention from our nurse. unfortunately the pain combo they first attempted was not putting a dent in the pain and the pain had risen from a 3/10 to a 9/10. will felt frustrated and irritated in the lack of time of the response and the pain he was feeling. luckily a new nurse came on board around 7:30pm and sat and listened to our frustration and got will on a new pain combo. his new medicines are working much better to curb the pain and he is now settled at a 3 – 4 out of 10 for the most part.
he’s been up walking two laps today and has gone up and down three stairs to prepare him for getting into the house. the nurse removed the original gauze bandage and replaced it with a new bandage. will’s scar is sutured with nylon stitches and looks perfectly healthy. the incision measures about 5 inches in length and extends about 1 inch past his hair line.
we’re staying on top of his pain meds and keeping him perky with piles of delicious treats from the cafeteria and around the durham area. he’s received 4 flower arrangements and two balloon bouquets that brighten up his room and help him keep focus on the healing process. he attempts his neck exercises and works on them as much as he can while his pain meds are in full effect. so far so good.
he’s been a trooper, cracked some jokes, and looks like a precious doll resting in his bed. so proud of all he’s done, the pain he is dealing with, and the grace in which he has handled it all.
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